变异的性行为

在含义上，此处所使用的少数族群（minority）并非正好是指任何少数人团体，因为像儿童音乐天才或数学天才这样的人数非常少的许多群体并没有被称为少数族群。另一方面，一些人数众多的群体，甚至在统计上是多数——像在种族隔离之下的南非的黑人公民和世界上许多国家里的妇女有时为自己要求少数族群地位。

所以，似乎一个社会少数族群在概念上定义的基本要素是社会和政治上的平衡、强人所难的不利条件、否定性的歧视和缺乏权力。不过，只要完全缺乏权力，少数族群就不可能组织起来。被压迫的个体仍然处于孤立无助状态，如果他们引起人们的注意，就会一个接着一个被剔除出来并被指控扰乱了社会治安。只有当他们与其他人联合起来才能形成少数族群，作为一个群体出现在公众的视野中，并因而成为一支社会力量，至少是一支潜在的社会力量。换一句话说：

• 少数族群是受压迫个体的群体，他们以某种志同道合为基础已经发展成某种相互有责任和利益的团结关系，即使已经得到的某种权力在很大程度上仍是象征性的，但毕竟他们得到了这种权力。这种最初的权利也许相当地有限，但仍然为他们和其他人要求结束对他们的压迫提供了可能性。

简而言之，即使多数族群的认可只是另一种侮辱和进一步的抨击，把自我认同为少数族群，就是向得到多数族群认可中迈进的第一步。所以，我们正在描述一种自相矛盾的现象：被压迫者至少需要哪怕一丁点儿的权力来证明自己受到了不公正的对待和没有享有自身的权力。但是，他们的最终目标（这恰恰是第二个自相矛盾的地方）是要作为“正常的”公民加入宽容待人的多数族群，并由此会失去他们的少数族群的地位。虽然如此，他们仍然可以培育自己的“少数族群文化”，因为它随后会作为一种对社会无威胁的文化现象和民俗文化而被普遍接受。

Sexual Minorities: Introduction 2 - The Majority and its Minorities

A minority in the sense used here is not just any small group, because many very small groups of people like musical child prodigies or mathematical geniuses are not called minorities. On the other hand, some very large groups, indeed, even statistical majorities - like the black citizens of South Africa under apartheid and women in many countries all over the world - have occasionally claimed the status of minorities for themselves.
It seems, therefore, that the defining element in the concept of a social minority is a social or political imbalance, an imposed disadvantage, a negative discrimination, a lack of power. However, as long as the lack of power is total, no minority can constitute itself. The oppressed individuals remain isolated, and if they attract attention, they are picked out one by one and accused of disturbing the social peace. They can form a minority only when they make common cause with others, present themselves to the public as a group, and thus become a social force, at least potentially. In other words:
Minorities are groups of oppressed individuals who, on the basis of some common interest, have developed some solidarity with each other and thus have gained a certain power, even if it still remains largely symbolic. Limited as this initial power may be, it nevertheless allows them and others to demand an end to their oppression.
In short: The self-identification as a minority is the first step on the way to recognition by the majority, even if that recognition consists of nothing but new insults and further attacks. We are dealing therefore with a paradox: The oppressed need at least a little power in order to demonstrate their unjustified lack of power. However, their ultimate goal - and this is a second paradox - is to join a more tolerant majority as “normal” citizens and thus to lose their minority status. Even so, they may still cultivate their “minority culture”, because it is then generally perceived as non-threatening and folkloristic.